Michigan

[RaZ]

Last year, a 25 pound box of roasted peanuts was $25, this year it is up to $37.
Yikes!

Going to try to make pickles. An 1/8 (maybe 1/6) bushel was only $5. Now to round up my jars...

 

[jrsckn]

We got our first egg on 7/22 but nothing after that so we processed our cockerel on Sunday because he was harassing the girls nonstop and today we got 2 eggs! Now we have an egg for each of us to try together

It's the little things on life

 

[Totalcolour]

totalcolour, wanted to say how much I enfoyed that article you posted, Patriotic duty to have chickens in 1918, against the law in 2012......go figure

Well, thanks but I found it on another thread, so it wasn't mine. I just copied it here in case anyone missed it. Also, if anyone can't keep chickens in their area, they perhaps could use this to show that chickens are condoned by Uncle Sam!

 

[Amy PT]

Two hens will be fine in the winter.

Thanks Olive. It's probably best for us to hold off and get 2 chicks in the spring. The illogical part of me wants to run out and replace Penny right this second. But life is already very, very full this month.

Those of you with silkies... do you keep them with large fowl? I'm reading threads that have mixed stances.

 

[Mom 2em All]

I read on another thread that you CANNOT keep chickens and quails next to eachother... the chickens spread illnesses to the quail and kill them.
That would be another thing that would scare me!

I had my quail IN with my chickens...as in, the same yard, running around, and eating with my hens.
you cannot give a disease if you do not have a disease in the first place.

Those of you with silkies... do you keep them with large fowl? I'm reading threads that have mixed stances.

it depends on your large fowl. Are they friendly birds...if they generally get along well you could try silkies. They dont see well, and they are small- so if you have a bully, they are going to get picked on.

 

[keyt1969]

Thanks Olive. It's probably best for us to hold off and get 2 chicks in the spring. The illogical part of me wants to run out and replace Penny right this second. But life is already very, very full this month.

Those of you with silkies... do you keep them with large fowl? I'm reading threads that have mixed stances.

I have all kinds of breeds from very large Jersey Giants to ultra small seramas. They all, along with my silkies (5) live together and I've never had a problem. In fact my silkies are the birds I've had the longest out there. They are also the best sitters I have too. When most of my eggs are missing at gathering time, they're always under the silkies...even the roos! LOL

 

[ladyrsanti]

If he hasnt had a urinalysis done, I suggest that, regardless of how healthy he appears. Crystals can also cause inappropriate urination- cats are masters of disguise and may appear healthy and not be. Sometimes the only symptom is inappropriate urination. Also, if he uses the litterbox fine during the day but at night does not, failing sight and arthritis may be a reason. Try a nightlight and also remember arthritis hurts worse later on in the day, evening, and after laying down for awhile.
There is also plug-ins for feliway which covers 700 square feet.

Good luck.

If he didn't jump onto the dinging room table and kitchen counters every night to tip over water glasses and sleep on the oven mitts, I might buy the arthritis bit but the long white fur left behind is a little incriminating.

He didn't used to do those things either but a few years ago we got him a kitten friend whose hijinks loosened his morals. Since I'm never awake to see it happen, I haven't been able to correct the behavior, other than making sure my counters are bare before going to bed (a difficult feat in our busy household).

As for the urinalysis, I can't say without a test of course (like you said) but if he had it, I'd be the worst cat mom ever because he's been doing this for probably ten years or so. I may be the worst cat mom anyway, come to think of it, based on his bad behavior and my inability to correct it. But he's gotten so senile in his old age. If anything disrupts his daily goings-on (such as us leaving for a day and returning at night) he will wander the house caterwauling at the top of his lungs.

I've never heard of feliway but I wonder if 700 square feet might keep them from their litter boxes too? We don't have a cat-accessible basement or other out-of-the-way place for the boxes so they're in our living areas and definitely within 700 feet of the target areas.

He's pretty though! (2007)

 

[jrsckn]

I've got a cat, Cleo, who is also a habitual offender. She's 15 years old and has had litter box issues her whole life, clean bill of health, looks and acts like a 1 year old cat. With my luck, she'll live to be 25. We moved into a 5 bedroom house a year ago so now she has her own room to pee all over until she passes.

I'll never rehome her after what she went through 13 years ago. We moved in with my inlaws after our house sold shortly after my daughter was born and my MIL is allergic so she had to stay in the garage. A week after we moved in, my DH left the garage door open and Cleo escaped. We looked for months and didn't find her. Six months later we had moved into our new place and got a phone call that the cat had come back. She was skin and bones. I think she may have went back to our old house, saw we weren't there and went back to my inlaws. Any cat who may have done that is a keeper in my book.

 

[Olive Hill]

Thanks Olive. It's probably best for us to hold off and get 2 chicks in the spring. The illogical part of me wants to run out and replace Penny right this second. But life is already very, very full this month.

Those of you with silkies... do you keep them with large fowl? I'm reading threads that have mixed stances.

Oh, you were going to buy two chicks now? I thought you meant you'd had three and got rid of one and were worried about the remaining two. I would agree that it would be good to wait. If for no other reason, it's more expensive to feed them in the winter and this winter it will be exceptionally so.

We've kept the silkies we've had with the LF with no issues. In fact, the silkie hens tended to claim high positions on the flock totem. That said, I think space is a big factor in whether you have significant fighting or not. Ours have basically unlimited space and resources so there is no reason for them to tussle.

 

[ladyrsanti]

I've got a cat, Cleo, who is also a habitual offender. She's 15 years old and has had litter box issues her whole life, clean bill of health, looks and acts like a 1 year old cat. With my luck, she'll live to be 25. We moved into a 5 bedroom house a year ago so now she has her own room to pee all over until she passes.

I'll never rehome her after what she went through 13 years ago. We moved in with my inlaws after our house sold shortly after my daughter was born and my MIL is allergic so she had to stay in the garage. A week after we moved in, my DH left the garage door open and Cleo escaped. We looked for months and didn't find her. Six months later we had moved into our new place and got a phone call that the cat had come back. She was skin and bones. I think she may have went back to our old house, saw we weren't there and went back to my inlaws. Any cat who may have done that is a keeper in my book.

Wow, yeah, definitely. Mine was a bottle-raised orphan, abandoned under a porch at probably only a week or so old. Too young to poo on his own even. I often wondered if that had something to do with his temperament. He will oftentimes suckle on the back of your neck while kneading, if you're sitting on the couch and he can reach it and is VERY clingy to whomever his current mommy is (my husband at the moment)... still at 17yrs old. My other thought was perhaps his frequent moves as well. He's moved towns six times in his life. That's gotta wear on a territorial animal.